Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss how the Trump administration is "suffocating" Iran with economic and financial pressure amid an ongoing U.S. military blockade of the Hormuz chokepoint.
"We are running a marathonover the past 12 months, and now we are sprinting toward the finish line"" Bessent told Bartiromo earlier this morning.
Bessent explained how theU.S. maximum pressure campaignon Tehran has become "a real economic blockade," claiming the regime is "not able to pay their soldiers" and that oil infrastructure is quickly deteriorating, as crude oil storage quickly rises while export channels remain shuttered.
Bessent warned that Iran may have to start shutting in oil wells within the next week as exports remain constrained.
Bessent on Iran:"We are suffocating the regime. They are not able to pay their soldiers."https://t.co/dX3LvhAPtlpic.twitter.com/3rICBw9nzL
"Their oil infrastructure is starting to creak," he said. "It hasn't been maintained, again because of our decades-long sanctions against them."
Bessent said no tankers are transiting the critical waterway from the Iranian side, "and we have increased the pressure on anyone trying to remit money into Iran to help the IRGC," referring to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Amid the impact of Economic Fury, Iran’s currency has hit an all-time low.The Iranian people deserve a new era, which the corrupt and shambolic Iranian regime cannot provide.With their oil industry closing and their currency plummeting, it is past time for the Iranian regime…pic.twitter.com/k7QvKoWbl2
Late last week, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Controlimposed sanctionson Chinese independent "teapot" refineries, particularly those in Shandong Province, for their continued purchase and refining of Iranian crude.
By Saturday morning,Beijing announcedthat companies in the country should ignore and not comply with U.S. sanctions targeting five domestic refineries.
Source: ZeroHedge News
